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Urban Yeti!
Urban Yeti! is an isometric action-adventure game developed by Cave Barn Studios and published by Telegames exclusively for the Game Boy Advance. The game was only released in the North American market in extremely limited quantities, and was only sold through the phone via infomercials, by calling the toll free number "1-877-GETYETI", or by ordering it from Telegames' online store. The title was released on August 16, 2002. Due to the game's extremely limited print run and lack of retail release, the game has become a notable collector's item, frequently commanding over $100 on the secondhand market for a complete copy. Gameplay The game is an isometric action-adventure game similar in style to the first two Grand Theft Auto titles. The player must travel around the city, while a constant day-night cycle shifts through the day. If the Yeti is seen, he will be attacked by townsfolk, or have the police called on him, who will try to shoot him down. While the player is able to climb buildings and avoid detection from most enemies, they will also have to contend with birds who defecate projectiles at random, threatening the player. Breaking up the main action are 4 mini games that the player must engage with at varying points in the story. The first, Soup Kitchen Manager, moves into an enclosed building with four lanes of possible foot traffic in front of the Yeti, and four different food items behind him. Customers come down the lanes, ordering food, and the player must manually grab the correct food item from behind them and deliver it to them before they cover the full distance, or they will punch the Yeti in dissatisfaction. The second mini game, Yeti Discus Tournament, involves a number of yetis on screen throwing discus with the goal of scoring points by catching the incoming projectiles and knocking the enemy yetis down with them, for a total of 10 rounds. The third, Lazy Sewer O'Fun, is a top down travel down the water inspired by Tubin', in which the player must navigate their inter-tube around obstacles like snakes and debris. The final mini game, Yeti Chicken Rancher, involves throwing chickens into a processing machine- but throwing the chickens too hard will disturb the nearby roosters. In order to win, the player must process 30 chickens in 3 minutes. Plot Having grown up in isolation, hidden among the cities of man, players take on the role of an adolescent Yeti who finds himself seeking the comforts of a home and family- and thus sets out across the city to find a suitable Yeti mate. As he explores the city, he hears the cries of a female Yeti in the distance. The Yeti is able to track the cries to the other side of the mainland, but to reach that part of the city, he would have to cross the bridge, which charges a $4 toll. Unemployed at the moment, the Yeti is unable to cross. Rampaging through the city, the Yeti finds a classifieds ad in the local paper, where he learns that the city is looking for a Soup Kitchen Manager. The next morning, the Yeti checked in with the Soup Kitchen for their open interviews, and scores the job. After a long day at the Soup Kitchen, the Yeti is able to raise up the $4.00 from tips and pay the bridge toll. On the other side of town, the Yeti picks up the smell of another Yeti, and follows expecting it to be his female yeti. Instead, the Yeti follows the scent to a larger, grey male Yeti. Seeing each other as competition for a mate, the two yetis battle until the grey is left defeated. Refusing to accept defeat, the Grey Yeti challenges Urban Yeti to meet him at the Yeti Discus Tournament, where they will settle things once and for all. The Grey Yeti then leaps onto a nearby car and retreats. In order to catch up and meet the Grey at the tournament, the Urban Yeti has to call in a UFO to pick him up and carry him there. After ten rounds of discus, the Urban Yeti wins the championship, and is given a letter from the female Yeti, telling him she is headed back to her chicken ranch in the suburbs, and that he should drop by. In order to reach the suburbs, Urban Yeti has to bowl through a crowd of protesters, who reveal that the subway is currently disable. Not dissuaded, the Yeti grabs a nearby stray cat and throws it into an electrical junction box to activate the lower subway train. After a brief train ride, the Yeti has to take an inter-tube down through the sewers, avoiding the snakes infesting it, before coming back out in the suburbs. However, thanks to the excursion by inter-tube, Urban Yeti's fur became matted with raw sewage- and he realized he would need to clean up before making a first impression at the chicken ranch. While exploring the Suburbs, Urban Yeti comes across a few local children, who mock him for his smell and spray him down with the hose that they were playing with. Arriving at the ranch, Urban Yeti is informed that eight of the ranches chickens have run off, and he is recruited into helping her find the missing birds. After another brief rampage through the city to find and return the chickens, the Urban Yeti has impressed the Female Yeti, but she tells him that she needs to test his skills before she will mate with him; by showing her his ability to wrangle up the chickens and process them into "Yeti Brand Chicken Dogs". The Urban Yeti processes 30 of the chickens, and manages to impress the Female Yeti, who declares that she will become his mate after a "Group Mega Dance". Reception Urban Yeti! received largely mixed to negative reviews on it's initial release. Greg Harris, writing for IGN, blasted the game for technical issues including the framerate and frequent scripting errors, stating that "because of the loose and sloppy presentation it ends up feeling like a game produced by a few guys down in someone's basement...instead of something out of an established development studio." Though several other critics praised the game's quirky style, and humorous story. The game holds an aggregate score of 67 on MetaCritic, but due to the limited release, only six publications were recorded with reviews for the title. Category:Games Category:Nintendo Game Boy Advance Releases